SORA

The six of us immediately meet up with Gambit outside of the gateway before we grab winter wear, the seven of us then setting out for Elvenowl.

"They went directly for Glade," Gambit says as we march through the winter storm that's hitting the mountains at the moment, the darkness beginning to settle in.

"Who even are they?" Kit asks.

"We don't know," Gambit frowns. "All we do know is that they've stolen one of the runestones and we don't know what their intentions could be. We need to retrieve the runestone, no matter what. Especially to save Reverence."

"Of course," Sander nods.

We reach Glade after a few hours, slowed by the storm. Once we reach the village, Gambit leads us to the spa that houses the hot springs and I raise my eyebrows in surprise.

"I am a woman of my word, you know," Gambit looks back at me and smiles. "But that's not why we're here. I promise we'll stop before we leave though."

Gambit pushes open the glass door with wooden trim and a smooth wooden handle just as a small bell rings above our heads and we shuffle into the wooden building. The entrance room consists of polished wooden floorboards, a wooden receptionist's desk with a computer, a fish tank along the back wall, and wooden walls.

Upon hearing us enter, the black haired attendant that was bending down behind the desk stands up and Gambit's eyes widen while the attendant's widen as well.

"Sekai?" Gambit breathes out.

"Hey, Gambit," Sekai smiles and rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, his blue eyes meeting her purple ones. "Long time no see."

"What...what're you doing here?" Gambit asks.

"My grandparents needed help running their business so after you left I decided to come to Glade to help them. What're you doing here?" Sekai asks.

"We had a lead that somebody who stole from the academy came to the hot springs to hide," Gambit explains. "Would you mind if we see your log of customers?"

"I'm sorry," Sekai frowns. "We've only had one person come in tonight because of the storm, and that was one of the women who sort fish at the market. She was in town all day."

"What?" Gambit frowns. "But—"

"Hey, Gambit," Sander says as he looks out the door of the hot springs, a frown forming on his face. "I think we've got a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Gambit frowns and walks over to join Sander at the window.

"An Alakara problem," Kit breathes out.

"Alakara?" Sekai breathes out and rushes to the window.

"That...doesn't look good," Isabella says quietly as we watch two giant Alakara prowl around the village outside, most people having left already.

Gambit activates her gauntlets and goes to reach for the handle of the door just as Sekai grabs ahold of her wrist and she raises her eyebrows in surprise as she looks at him.

"Not without me," Sekai says with a small smile before he presses a button on his silver bracelet and it transforms into a shield with a bunch of metal clicking sounds. "The only customer we had today already left, so there's nobody here for me to protect. I'm coming with you whether you like it or not."

"Alright," Gambit nods, her lips pursed.

"Let's do this," Kit says as she summons her katana and Sander summons his naginata.

Gambit, Sekai, Kit, and Sander run out of the building and proceed to all attack the Alakara on the right just before Akari, Isabella, Shae, and I head for the Alakara on the left.

"Hey, ugly!" Isabella shouts as she opens her book and holds out her hand, wind blowing around her as she begins to glow faintly. "Come at me!"

The Alakara charges her and she swings her held out hand directly to the ground in a diagonal strike, a wall of white aura forming in front of her to shield her just before Akari jumps over the aura wall with her scythe raised over her head and she swings down as she flies towards the Alakara, her scythe breaking off its tusks.

Following Akari's attack, I swing my staff around before I slam it into the ground and form a rune of Envy, a much larger rune of the same design forming under the Alakara and draining its power as Isabella summons chains of light to tie it in place. Shae then runs and slides underneath the Alakara to slice off its tail, making the creature screech loudly.

"Sora!" Akari shouts as she runs towards me and I immediately understand and bend down as I cup my hands together.

Akari jumps into my hands and I help to propel her upwards as she jumps and backflips through the air. As Akari comes to the head of the Alakara, she spins downwards with her scythe and slices the head off the monster just before she lands in front of it.

Just then, I look over to the others to see Gambit flying through the air and shouting as she punches the Alakara forcefully, its tusks snapping off from the force of her blow. Sekai then pulls a similar move to Shae except for he jumps over the Alakara's tail with his legs spread before he turns around in the air and throws his shield, which cuts off its tail. The Alakara hisses angrily and swipes around to try and swat Sekai away, but he collects his shield just in time to meet the strike of the Alakara's paw, which makes him slide against the ground as he holds his stance and grits his teeth.

Kit then aims for the head of the Alakara but it catches her blade in its mouth and begins to bite down on it in an attempt to snap it as she hangs on to it and pushes against the force of the Alakara. Kit grits her teeth as blue energy begins to burn around her in waves and she pushes harder against the Alakara, slowly walking it backwards as it hangs onto her katana blade.

"Kit! You've gotta move!" Sander shouts.

"I've...got this!" Kit shouts as she summons more energy and her katana lights up in a column of blue energy.

The Alakara seems to almost narrow its eyes intelligently and Kit's eyes widen whenever her abilities start to work against herself.

"Dammit, Kit! Stop trying so hard!" Sander shouts as he unfurls his electric blue wings and flies swiftly towards Kit just as she flies backwards in an explosion of blue light.

Sander catches Kit and the two spiral into the snow, Sander's wings curling around them just as a flash of electric blue light goes off and sears the Alakara like fire. The Alakara hisses and Gambit takes the opportunity to leap onto Sekai's shield as he gives her a boost and she jumps up and punches underneath the Alakara's chin, knocking it off its feet and sending it flying through the air several yards before it lands on its back with a loud crash.

Isabella then takes the opportunity to form more chains of light around the second Alakara before Sander flies up with his naginata after sitting Kit in the snow gently and he flies down with a battle cry as he strikes his naginata into the heart of the creature, thus ending the battle as a column of electric blue light beams off of him for a few seconds before it fades away.

Sander huffs as he marches over to Kit, who looks up at him with wide eyes, her blade still sitting beside her in the snow, thankfully not broken.

"Sander, I—" Kit starts just before Sander reaches her and hoists her to her feet before he swoops down to kiss her roughly, her eyes widening further as she gasps.

Kit then smiles and wraps her arms around Sander's neck as Sander places his hands on her hips before they pull apart after a few seconds and he rests his forehead against hers as their eyes search each other's.

"I already lost my parents. I'm not going to lose you too," Sander breathes out.

"I'm sorry..." Kit's eyes water as she begins to cry and Sander pulls her into a tight hug, her head resting against his chest as he places his chin on top of her head. "I love you, Sander."

"I love you too, Kit," Sander says and squeezes her a little harder.

"So, does this mean I can call her my sister-in-law now?" Shae teases and Sander flushes.

"That's adorable!" Isabella claps happily. "I love love!"

"Guys," Sander groans. "Come on."

With that, we take a few moments to enjoy each other's company before we decide to head back inside the building for the night to continue our search for the runestone once the morning comes. Fortunately for me, that means...

"Hot springs time!" I shout as I race down the hallway and Gambit rolls her eyes as she smiles while Akari chuckles and Sekai smiles sheepishly while laughing and scratching the back of his head.